


with patience, in due time

by thir13enth



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Banter banter banter, F/M, yah know how it is for this ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thir13enth/pseuds/thir13enth
Summary: Edelgard refuses to be part of Claude's next scheme.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 18
Kudos: 62
Collections: Valentine's Day Lockers 2020





	with patience, in due time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunsmasher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsmasher/gifts).



> to **catie** for vlockers!

“Hey, Princess.”

There’s only one person in all of Garreg Mach that calls her Princess, and she can hear the wink he gives her in his voice.

“Claude,” she replies, keeping her voice flat and not returning the enthusiasm. She puts down her cup of tea, clinking it gently onto the plate.

He takes the seat in front of her, scooting himself into the chair across from her.

“You’re looking lovely today,” he says. Before she says another word, he quickly adds, “As you always do.”

“I can only say the same of you, Claude,” Edelgard replies. Setting the pleasantries aside, she asks bluntly, “How can I help you today?”

His hand slaps onto his chest, as if his heart shot by an arrow. “Oh, Edelgard, is that really all you assume of me? Just asking you for favors? I’m so offended!”

He doesn’t look it. Certainly not with that twinkle in his eyes.

“You don’t think that maybe I just came by to chat with you? That maybe I thought you looked a little lonely and wanted to keep you company?” he asks.

“I’m just going by past experience,” Edelgard tells him, with a little bit of a shrug. She uncrosses her legs and recrosses them in the opposite direction. “The last time we chatted properly you were asking me how to acquire tumblewart from the markets of Enbarr.” Before he replies, she adds, “And tumblewart, to my best knowledge, has only _one_ use.” She pauses dramatically. “You _do_ realize that _I_ had to acquire the tumblewart _myself_ for you?”

“Oh, and you did me a _great_ favor. I knew I could count on someone only as remarkable as you for that kind of a favor.”

“Whatever did you end up doing with it, anyway?” she asks, but then corrects herself. “Or rather, _who_ did you end up using it on?”

Claude gives her a facetious smile. “Patience, Princess. You’ll find out in due time.”

Edelgard sits back in her chair, considering for a moment. She absentmindedly picks up her teacup again, swirling the lukewarm tea in it. There’s a few bits of leaf at the bottom. She flits her eyes back to meet Claude’s. “You always come up with the strangest schemes, don’t you, Claude?”

“Keeps the morale up around the Academy — otherwise everything is much too boring, don’t you think?”

She can’t argue with that. “True,” she offers him.

They sit together in comfortable silence for a moment, before Claude’s face breaks into a smile. “But you _are_ correct, after all,” he tells her. “I _did_ actually want to ask you for another favor. A big one.”

Edelgard’s eyebrow raises. She’s not surprised, but she is intrigued. “Oh? A big one?”

“Yes, a _very_ important favor.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Good things, I promise.”

Edelgard tries to read for any hints off his eyes, but as always, his face gives her nothing to draw from.

“Alright,” she accepts, nevertheless.

“Great! All you have to do is say yes to my next request.”

She blinks. “What if it’s a request I don’t want to do?”

“That’s why I’m asking you the favor to say yes,” he challenges, propping his head into the palm of his hands, elbows on the surface of the table.

“And let me guess,” she replies. “You’re not going to tell me the request until I promise you the favor of saying yes.”

“Precisely. Always on point, Princess.”

She takes a sharp breath in. “This seems like it can only be bad for me.”

“I already promised you that it would only good things,” he assures her.

“Well, if it’s only good things, why would you need me to _promise_ you yes when the conditions are such that I would only say yes?” she retorts. “Of course, unless, the request _isn’t_ a good thing.”

He leans in close, shifting his elbows over to her half of the table, his face following. “Because it’s _so_ good that I can’t be sure you’d _allow_ yourself to say yes,” he says in a low voice. “You might consider it even… _indulgent_.”

A sudden flush comes over her cheeks as he says this. Unclear where this sudden heat is coming from, she swallows, bringing her tea back up to her lips. She takes a small sip, tilting the cup as far back as it would go to cover as much of her face as possible.

“Alright, alright,” she agrees. “I’ll say yes.”

“Perfect,” Claude says, leaning back into his chair. Edelgard exhales her held breath. “If that’s the case, then I would like to ask you on a date.”

She nearly spits out her tea. Instead, she swallows it calmly, setting her cup back down to the plate. A small clink. She folds her hands into her lap. “A date?” she asks, holding her voice steady.

“Yes. Simple as that,” he says, gesturing to her. “I _told_ you it would be good.”

She furrows her eyebrows, looking away. “You didn’t have to go through all of that drama just to ask me out on a date, you know,” she says. Under her breath, she adds, “I would have said yes, anyway.”

“What was that?”

“You could have just asked me,” she says, loudly. “Without this whole… build-up.”

He smiles. “Well, I don’t handle rejection well, so I had to ensure you would say yes, first.” He rises from his seat, saluting her with a wink. “I’ll see you tomorrow night at eight, then? My room?”

“Y-Your room?” she asks. She hopes he didn’t hear the stutter in her voice as clearly as she heard it.

“Yes, my room,” Claude affirms. “More privacy, you know?”

Speechless, she watches him turn to walk away, giving her one last wave goodbye, but she abruptly stands and catches his wrist before he steps off. “Wait!”

He stops, looking down at where she’s holding him. She drops his hand, tucking her hand behind her back. “Yes?” he asks her.

“What…. What are you planning?” she asks. “Is this part of some elaborate plan of yours?”

At this, he gives her a boyish grin. “I guess you’ll have to find out,” he replies. “Maybe I _do_ have something planned… or _maybe_ I just like you.”

The blush she has been desperately holding back comes back full force. He takes the moment to rest his hand on her shoulder.

“Patience, Princess,” he promises. “You’ll find out in due time.”

**Author's Note:**

> edelclaude rights! 
> 
> find me [here](https://www.twitter.com/napsbeforesleep)


End file.
